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“Southwest Corner” and “Forest”

by KC2RIY, on November 9th, 2009 (Bonaire, Jackster)

Sunday was a two dive day for us. Jacqui and Dave from Jackster joined us aboard Dignity for these two. Their boat is longer than the allowed 45ft or so to tie up on the dive moorings so as we were aiming for sites further than it would be comfortable in the dinghy we invited them to join us.

From looking at our guide we set our sights on the location called “Forest”. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a dive boat when we arrived so we took the next one, “Southwest Corner”. It was on the farthest tip of Klein Bonaire and the waters were quite rolly. We quickly prepped and put on our gear and got into the water where, once below, the swell is no more. The sea life was abundant here with a huge variety of towering coral formations. At times the fish were swimming in lanes at different heights and different angles in and amongst the coral formations. I was reminded of that scene from the old B&W movie, Metropolis, where the lanes of flying vehicles snake between the skyscrapers. The area seemed to be a nursery for juvenile barracuda as we saw quite a few including three together at one point. Our deepest point on this dive was 109ft and overall it lasted 70 minutes.

We then moved the boat clockwise around Klein Bonaire to find a free mooring out of the swell for lunch.

In the afternoon we moved the boat back around to “Forest” which was now free. This was tight against the coast and again quite swelly. This dive proved to be perhaps the best so far in Bonaire. While the overall profile was quite similar with the 25ft sandy/coral bottom with a drop off to 100+ft it varied in that the reef drop off undulated with many buttresses. We therefore snaked our way along the reef and as we turned the corner on each buttress it felt like we were going somewhere new. Again the variety and quantity of sea life was amazing. I always like finding scrawled filefish which tend to be quite solitary. We found six large ones all together. We also saw (actually on both dives) immense midnight blue parrot fish as well as a graceful and large eagle ray. This sight had a surface current which was not too evident deeper down. Half the dive was spent moving up current below it. The second half was spent almost drifting back to the boat looking at the shallower coral gardens peering for the elusive sea horses.

By the time we got back it was 4:30pm. We took the mooring that Inspiration Lady had departed (to Curacao) hoping to get a better internet connection. This turned out not to be so sometime today we’ll shift the boat yet again.

We finished of the evening watching “Kite Runner” which I thought was a very good adaptation of the acclaimed book.

No diving planned for today but I will get the tanks filled.

Footnote: I sent this blog out the first time via SSB. Normally it doesn’t work this early in the morning but I tried some more distant stations. I made it via a receiver in Belgium, doubling my best distance yet, over 4,000nm away. We have also moved the boat and have good internet again.

Category: Bonaire, Jackster | Here is my comment

“Bonaventure”

by steve, on November 8th, 2009 (Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster)

Saturday morning saw us heading back to Klein Bonaire to dive on a location called “Bonaventure” along with the Jacksters. They first joined us aboard Dignity so we could discuss and agree location before we headed off in our separate dinghies.

This time I took my camera and we were able to capture pictures of the fantastic reef at that site. The photos simply don’t do the place justice. Below the dinghies at around 20ft was a sandy bottom out of which corals grew looking as if they’d been planted there. Next to this patch was the obligatory (for Bonaire) drop off, this time being almost vertical.

The dive profile was similar to before – down to 90-100ft before slowly making our way back up the reef. We spent the final 15 minutes searching for seahorses (again none found) in the corals beneath the dinghies.

We had a lazy afternoon reading ending up grilling some fine pork ribs we’d picked up on the island. After dinner it was over to the Jacksters to play a game of Mexican Train Dominoes along with the Inspiration Ladies. Congrats to Jackie (Inspiration Lady) for winning the evening’s play.

Category: Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster | One reader has left a comment, here is mine

“Front Porch”

by steve, on November 7th, 2009 (Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster)

Would you believe it I finally obtained the dive map from Budget Marine yesterday. I dropped off the four used tanks at Dive Friends letting them know one had lost about 1,000 PSI before we used it and pointed out where the leak was. Even though we’d managed a decent dive on it the manager gave us a free fill. Very nice of them. Our tanks still hadn’t arrived yet so I took another two.

Helen and I then packed our gear into the dinghy and went to a spot just north of Harbour Village Marina called “Front Porch”. It wasn’t clear where the spot was from the sea as my guess is is that the dive marker was on land. We asked someone in the water who gave us guidance to the spot – at least where he thought it was. One of the attractions to this spot was a wreck of a fishing boat sitting on the bottom at 80ft.

We donned our gear, always a little more awkward in the dinghy, and back flipped into the water. After making sure we were both ok we descended to find the wreck. We hit bottom at 102ft and saw no wreck. To conserve air we ascended to about 70ft and headed south, this being my guess as to the direction of the wreck. After about 5 minutes the wreck appeared out of the shadows. It was on it’s side in about 90ft with the open section away from us. We swum over it then peered under.

The dive then progressed as with the previous ones, running parallels along the sloping reef ascending 10-20ft each time. We spotted a sinister looking and very large barracuda lurking in the depths and Helen caught sight of a green moray hiding in the reef. Nearer the top of the reef we came upon what we both initially thought was murky water. It turned out to be a few of the corals spawing. Out of their tubular vents poured a fine mist like underwater volcanoes. That was a great surprise as we thought all the spawning had occurred during September and October.

Back on Dignity we rested for an hour before heading off for a walk. We wanted some leg exercise as we’d had none for a while. We walked along the seafront for a while before heading into the commercial district. We wanted to check out the supermarkets over that way before making any broader effort to buy any supplies. As suspected the prices reflected the geographic/political isolation of the island so we only bought opportunistically – ie, things we don’t normally see. In this case it was a couple of small packets of nan bread. We bumped into the Jacksters, Inspiration Ladies and their friends on Going South who were provisioning up having hired a vehicle they could share.

We walked further out of town before looping back and coming back in from a different direction. We picked up some fresh milk on the way. We again bumped into the Jacksters, et al, at the dinghy dock as they were loading up their supplies.

That was about it. Back on the boat we had our evening meal and I wrestled with the internet for a while. Something’s changed recently and it’s hard to get a decent connection. Hopefully I can get this blog out.

Category: Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster | Here is my comment

“Mi Dushi”

by steve, on November 6th, 2009 (Alofa, Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster)

Thursday morning: another trip to Budget Marine to pick up my map. Another wipe out. Took their number this time so I’ll call before going again. We then motored Dignity around Klein Bonaire to a dive site called “Mi Dushi”. I had made a note of this site while in Budget Marine as the guide suggested this was the site to spot sea horses. Leaving our mooring we were hailed by Alofa who wondered if we were leaving just as they were arriving. We reassured them we weren’t and would be around for a few days yet.

The waters at the Mi Dushi were crystal clear and the colours out of this world. No seahorses spotted though but the dive was excellent all the same.

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Arriving back at the mainland we discovered someone else had taken the mooring we had been on (you’re not allowed to reserve them) so we took another a little further north. We found the internet connection to be poor there so after dinghying around and checking some of the others we ended up tying up to the mooring next to our previous which looked as though it had an issue but was fine.

Throughout the day we had exchanges with Jackster and Inspiration Lady sharing notes and materials we’d collected for our passage west.

We had a quiet evening to ourselves. We were a little worn out and needed it after the two previous evenings.

Category: Alofa, Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster | Here is my comment

Painting Lessons. Another Sundowner.

by steve, on November 5th, 2009 (Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Sea Otter)

We had a fairly slow morning rising due to the night before. The coconut telegraph at 8am was the final reason for getting up. To our delight we heard that Inspiration Lady and Jackster had both arrived in Bonaire. They had bypassed the Aves on the strength of a forecast of little or no wind the following day. As it was they had had to motor a lot of the way from Los Roques. We soon had contact on the VHF and agreed to meet up for sundowners in the evening – the second in a row for us.

Next we had a trip into town for some provisioning. We also swung by the Budget Marine to see if the dive map had arrived. It hadn’t. They suggested coming back today. We’ll see.

Then it was down to some serious hammock lying and reading until lunch. After lunch, Teri from Sea Otter came over to give Helen a water colour painting lesson. Teri spent 2½ hours with Helen showing her the basics and some different techniques for achieving different effects. The result, we all thought, was pretty good. A combination of good teaching and talented student perhaps.

Sea Otter are heading out today. They will make their way to St Thomas where Teri will paint some more and sell her paintings to the tourists. She makes enough money this way to feed them for the following year. Teri kindly left Helen some of her old paints to keep going.

By the time all was packed up it was time to have the Jacksters (Jackie and Dave) and the Inspiration Ladies (Jackie and Gary) aboard for a fine evening of conversation, nibbles and the odd beverage. We all have rough plans of making it to NZ by the end of next year. It was good to catch up with them and learn of their travels and recent experiences.

Category: Bonaire, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Sea Otter | Here is my comment
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